Russian Civil Aviation: News

Yeah... one of the criticisms of the Su-35 is that it is too capable... but the Russian military is prepared to buy it anyway...

Every government subsidises its civil aircraft production... Boeing would not have made nearly as much money as it has if the western militaries weren't buying its aircraft for inflght refuelling aircraft and AWACS aircraft etc... or even just VIP transport...

With all this work for the military with high profit margins they are generally able to offer lower prices to sell planes and once they are in service in large numbers then you make money from parts and support.

Apparently Sukhoi has increased its share in the program as Finmeccanica. What is the status of the project? It seems to have gained quite a few sales (order book of a 150) but sanctions could have an impact. Does the rouble-dollar exchange rate benefit exports?

Russia for 20 years, plans to sell up to thousands of new medium-haul passenger MS-21, currently already have 175 orders, including from foreign companies, said Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin."Plans Company" Irkut "to sell over 20 years of manufacture of the aircraft to 1,000 aircraft, now we already have firm orders for 175 aircraft, the whole portfolio of orders for 276 aircraft. But hard, I said, 175" - he said.

"And, most interestingly, that orders have come from such a serious business, overseas, including such as Lufthansa, for example, that is, the plane had already of great interest in the market," - said Rogozin.

Rogozin previously reported that the first flight of the MS-21 is scheduled until mid-2016.

The flight testing of new Russian MS-21 aircraft will be started next yearRussian Aviaton » Tuesday March 31, 2015 14:18 MSK

The flight testing of new Russian MS-21 aircraft will be started in 2016, President of Irkut Corporation, Oleg Demchenko, told i-Mash at LIMA-2015 show.

“This year we will complete assembly of the first prototype. In 2016 we are going to start the flight testing,” Demchenko said. According to the CEO “MS-21 program is on schedule and we are doing our best to preserve it”.

“The major problem in the network of MS-21 program is the “black wing” (wing made of composites), - Demchenko said. – These are the brand-new technologies for Russian aircraft industry. Our country has never used them before. The road is long, but I think we are going to make it”.

MS-21 aircraft will replace Tu-154 and Tu-134 jets. Irkut Corporation is assembling the jet. Three versions of MS-21 seating 150, 180 and 212 passengers will be manufactured.

Irkut Corporation believes that the liner will outmatch Boeing and Airbus aircraft of the same class in terms of aircraft performance; it will be put into operation in 2017.

MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. The project of developing a Russian-Chinese wide-body passenger plane estimated at no less than 80 billion rubles ($1.4 billion) remains a priority, even if it has received no budget financing for 2015, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Tuesday.

"We’re not in any case revising it and it is within our sight and in our specific plans," Rogozin said in an interview with TASS news agency.

"We’re now determining a group of participants to develop this most technical project with a choice to be made between Ilyushin and Tupolev [aircraft design bureaus]. But generally, the technical outline of the plane is already known," the vice-premier said.

Loans from Russia’s national development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) may be raised to finance the project, he said.

"We’ll finance expenditures related to the project. But these will not necessarily be budget money. We can take out loans from VEB, for example, as soon as we switch to this project’s practical implementation," Rogozin said.

"The most important thing for us is to determine the understanding of Chinese partners about this plane’s flying range. We should reach clear understanding by the end of the year about what we’re creating," the vice-premier said.

"We don’t have such a large population and we don’t need a jumbo jet to carry a thousand people across the entire territory of Russia. The Chinese, on the contrary, need a large passenger but medium-haul plane. That is, we now need to find a consensus," the Russian vice-premier said.

Rogozin didn’t rule out that Russia might agree to the Chinese project or it would be tailored to Russian needs, for example, by installing other engines.

The Russian government planned to allocate 1.4 billion rubles ($24.5 million) from the federal budget and 2.5 billion rubles (about $44 million) from extra-budgetary sources for the Plane-2020 project in 2015.

However, a proposal was later made to stop the project's financing from the federal budget. At the same time, Russia’s United Aircraft Building Corporation announced in January 2015 about several purchases under the Plane-2020 project.

The plane, which is being developed on a parity financing basis with China’s aircraft-building industry, is expected to be built in 2021.

In particular, we plan to make a large order for aircraft Sukhoi SuperJet-100 to within 5-6 years to form one company's fleet.

The press service said that the Acting Governor Dmitry YANAO Kobylkin discussed the issue with President Vladimir Putin. "At one meeting with the president, I presented the request to include ATK" Yamal "in the list of companies that could get any benefits. I explained what is the reason we have five years to fly imported aircraft, we lease payments - they are in the currency ", - said Kobylkin.

Ulyanovsk. April 17th. Airports - Public Joint Stock Company "United Aircraft Corporation" (UAC) plans to expand its family of regional aircraft Sukhoi Superjet, said at the Second Congress of the Russian aircraft manufacturers Corporation President Yuri Slusar.

He noted that it is planned as creating versions with reduced capacity of up to 75 seats, and the number of seats to 130.

In addition, increasing the competitiveness of the family will contribute to modernization, which is scheduled for 2017-2018 years. During this period, will be held or re-engine, improved aerodynamics, or by the use of the new wing, said Yu.Slyusar.

Nice Interview on Superjet with Senior Vice President of Sales GSS Eugene Andrachnikov to joining the company he served as Director General of "A-Group"

Some news related to the "little guys"...there's a short video in the link below

Russia to Export Ptero-Class UAS

Russia is set to supply its Ptero-G0 unmanned aircraft systems not only to the Russian law enforcement agencies, but to its foreign partners, AFM-Servers, the developer and producer of the systems.Russia is planning to export its Ptero-G0 unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), according to the Director General of the developing and producing company AFM-Servers, Amir Valiev.

The foreign customers have already ordered six such systems; two of them were delivered last year and two more are currently being prepared for delivery.

“We have already conducted acceptance delivery tests for the two Ptero-G0 UAS set for delivery to our foreign partners,” Valiev said, without disclosing the purchasing country.

The director general also added that the company is in negotiation with China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia on possible deliveries of the UAS, noting that Asia is showing genuine interest in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

- See more at: http://www.uasvision.com/2015/04/23/russi-to-export-ptero-class-uas/#sthash.qQOFeRsZ.dpuf

At the end of 2014 the order book totaled 192 SSJ 100 aircraft. Commercial operators of this aircraft type currently are Russian airline "Aeroflot", "Gazpromavia", "Yakutia", "Center-South" and the Red Wings, as well as Mexican Interjet. Currently, the production is designed to produce 60 machines a year. As reported by the head of the KLA Yuri Slyusarev, 2016 and 2017 to be transferred to customers of 34 regional aircraft Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ 100).

n addition, Slusar stressed that the corporation continues to work on the creation of single-aisle trucks family MC-21 with a capacity of 150-210 seats. "Planned production volume - up to 72 aircraft per year. Develop a portfolio of orders and orders for 175 aircraft," - said the head of the KLA.

May 8, AEX.ru - In Moscow, signed a framework agreement on the establishment of a leasing company to support sales of the Sukhoi SuperJet 100 (SSJ 100) in China and South-East Asia. This was reported by the press service of the UAC.

The participants of the quadripartite agreement made by the Russian-Chinese investment fund, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (part of the United Aircraft Corporation), Management Committee of the new area Xixian China (PRC) and the Chinese company New Century International Leasing. The agreement was concluded with the support of the Russian-Chinese intergovernmental commission - said in a statement.

According to the agreement, within three years the Russian-Chinese leasing company will acquire from JSC "Sukhoi Civil Aircraft" (SCAC) a 100 SSJ 100 aircraft worth about $ 3 billion, which is more than twice the total number of aircraft which are currently delivered to customers.

"The headquarters of the new leasing company will be located in the territory of the Russian-Chinese industrial park in the city of Xixian, Shaanxi Province, the capital of China's aviation cluster. The city administration will also assist in the provision of land for the creation of the necessary infrastructure for acceptance and servicing of aircraft SSJ 100 "- added the UAC.

http://www.aex.ru/news/2015/5/8/134173/

Plans about this were mentioned about a year ago, so it's nice to see things moving along

Is anybody familiar with the current situation of Russian cooperation with Antonov re: An-148?Antonov is now announcing they are launching An-178 (cargo ramp version) with (Azeri) Silk Way Airlines as 1st customer.Would An-178 depend on Russian cooperation, or is Antonov trying to replace those suppliers somehow?

" It is a modern aircraft with the technology of international level, relevant certificates of the European Union. We are seriously thinking about acquiring aircraft of this class for the Egyptian national airline. First, we must examine the aircraft, and if we see that it suits us, we will begin to discuss the price . "

Russian Helicopters (part of State Corporation Rostec) has signed two contracts to supply the modernised light Ansat passenger helicopter manufactured by Kazan Helicopters. Under the agreements, signed at HeliRussia 2015, the first customers for five of the new aircraft will be Tatarstan-based Tulpar Helicopters and Vector Aviation Company.

“The niche for Russian-built light commercial helicopters was long the preserve of the Soviet Mi-2. Now Russian Helicopters has built the unique modern Ansat, which has numerous competitive advantages over other helicopters its class,” Russian Helicopters CEO Alexander Mikheev said. “We are pleased that the Ansat has found its first customers, and look forward to expanding our order book for this helicopter with orders from foreign helicopter operators.”

Tulpar Helicopters will receive three Ansats, with another two aircraft ordered by Vector Aviation Company. Both clients provide services including commercial helicopter and aeroplane flights, service and engineering support for aircraft, helicopter sales and leasing, operational support, design and production of VIP interiors and supplying aviation equipment.

The modernised Ansat is reliable and simple to operate, can operate in various climates and is suitable for outdoors storage. In December 2014 the Ansat with hydromechanical controls received additional type certification from the Interstate Aviation Committee’s Aviation Register (IAC AR), allowing it to make commercial passenger flights.

Russian Helicopters has already presented the new Ansat to its traditional markets including countries across the CIS, South-East Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Ulyanovsk-based Aviastar-SP enterprise will continue production of Tu-204-300 aircraft offering an increased range, despite the fact that demand for these jets is very low, Interfax-AVN reports with reference to a source close to Russian military-industrial sector.

Aviastar continues production of Tu-204-300 jets. This year the plant is going to manufacture two jets of the type for Rossiya special aircraft division and one airliner for a space company,” the source said.

He reminded that last year Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center named after Y.A. Gagarin, managed by Roscosmos, issued a tender for delivery of two long-haul single-aisle aircraft. The initial price of this contract was 3,3 billion rubles. It includes all the equipment, ground facilities, spares and tool kits as well as personnel training (pilots and maintenance personnel).

“The second Tu-204-300 will be delivered to the customer in early 2016,” the source noted. According to him, after retrofitting the jet into a “space” version the airliner will feature a three-zone cabin layout seating 52 passengers. The first cabin zone (for cosmonauts) will be fitted with three swing-out seats and three-seat sofa, the second one – five rooms with three-seat sofas and five seats installed outside the rooms, the third one – four two-seat blocks of business-class seats and nine three-seat blocks of economy class seats. The third zone should be able to convert into a medevac version of the jet fitted by two medical modules.